Combined chemotherapy (CT) and radiotherapy (RT) have been shown to be more effective than either alone in treating patients with esophageal carcinoma. When patients are administered CT plus RT and the RT is at the conventional dose, however, they remains a moderate chance that the tumor will recur. In the present phase-III study, patients will be randomized to either arm 1 (CT plus high-dose RT) or arm 2 (CT plus conventional-dose RT). Both CT and RT will start on the first day of week 1. Arm-1 RT will reach a total dose of 64.8 Gy in 36 fractions; arm-2 RT will reach a total dose of 50.4 Gy in 28 fractions. CT for both arms will be cisplatin (75 mg/m2) and 5-fluorouracil (1000 mg/m2/24 hr). Also, a quality of life test, the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT-H&N, version 2), will be administered at selected time points.